President Donald Trump has declared North Korea a state sponsor of terror.Trump said Monday that the designation will impose further penalties on the country. He called it a long overdue step and part of the U.S. "maximum pressure campaign" against the North."In addition to threatening the world by nuclear devastation, North Korea has repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism, including assassinations on foreign soil," Trump said as he announced the designation at a Cabinet meeting at the White House. The move returns North Korea to the list of countries the U.S. views as state sponsors of terror for the first time since 2008. That's when the North was removed in a bid to salvage a deal to halt its nuclear development.U.S. officials cited the killing of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's estranged half brother in a Malaysian airport this year as an act of terrorism.However, the action had been debated for months inside the administration, with some officials at the State Department arguing that North Korea did not meet the legal standard to be relisted as a state sponsor of terrorism.North Korea is joining Iran, Sudan and Syria on the list of state sponsors of terror.Trump announced the move Monday during a public meeting with his Cabinet at the White House and said the Treasury Department will announce new sanctions against North Korea on Tuesday."It will be the highest level of sanctions by the time it's finished over a two-week period," Trump said.North Korea previously on list of state sponsors of terrorNorth Korea was on the terrorism blacklist for two decades after the 1987 bombing of a South Korean airliner killed 115 people. It was also accused of a 1983 bombing assassination attempt against then-South Korean president Chun Doo-hwan in Myanmar. The president survived, but 21 others were killed. The North has not been publicly implicated in a terror attack of that scale since.House legislation introduced this year had urged the State Department to review a list of purported acts by North Korea, including assassinations of dissidents and weapons sales to militant groups including Hamas and Hezbollah. It requested a determination as to whether such acts constitute support for international terrorism.The legislation also cited the 2015 computer hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which the FBI blamed on North Korea. Hackers threatened movie theaters that screened "The Interview," a comedy parodying the North's leader, Kim.Matthew Pennington, Catherine Lucey and Zeke Miller of The Associated Press and CNN contributed.

President Donald Trump has declared North Korea a state sponsor of terror.

Trump said Monday that the designation will impose further penalties on the country. He called it a long overdue step and part of the U.S. "maximum pressure campaign" against the North.

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"In addition to threatening the world by nuclear devastation, North Korea has repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism, including assassinations on foreign soil," Trump said as he announced the designation at a Cabinet meeting at the White House.

The move returns North Korea to the list of countries the U.S. views as state sponsors of terror for the first time since 2008. That's when the North was removed in a bid to salvage a deal to halt its nuclear development.

U.S. officials cited the killing of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's estranged half brother in a Malaysian airport this year as an act of terrorism.

However, the action had been debated for months inside the administration, with some officials at the State Department arguing that North Korea did not meet the legal standard to be relisted as a state sponsor of terrorism.

North Korea is joining Iran, Sudan and Syria on the list of state sponsors of terror.

Trump announced the move Monday during a public meeting with his Cabinet at the White House and said the Treasury Department will announce new sanctions against North Korea on Tuesday.

"It will be the highest level of sanctions by the time it's finished over a two-week period," Trump said.

North Korea previously on list of state sponsors of terror

North Korea was on the terrorism blacklist for two decades after the 1987 bombing of a South Korean airliner killed 115 people. It was also accused of a 1983 bombing assassination attempt against then-South Korean president Chun Doo-hwan in Myanmar. The president survived, but 21 others were killed. The North has not been publicly implicated in a terror attack of that scale since.

House legislation introduced this year had urged the State Department to review a list of purported acts by North Korea, including assassinations of dissidents and weapons sales to militant groups including Hamas and Hezbollah. It requested a determination as to whether such acts constitute support for international terrorism.

The legislation also cited the 2015 computer hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which the FBI blamed on North Korea. Hackers threatened movie theaters that screened "The Interview," a comedy parodying the North's leader, Kim.